Transcript [00:00] In 1967, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and [00:04] the Southern Leadership Conference were [00:06] making plans for a mass pilgrimage of [00:09] black Americans to the Holy Land. Well, [00:11] that trip never took place. Now, six six [00:15] decades later, Pastor Dumisani [00:18] Washington is leading the Unfinished [00:20] Business Holy Land Tour. [00:25] As a pastor and advocate for Israel, [00:27] Dumisani Washington has spent years [00:29] speaking about the connection [music] [00:30] between the black church, Israel, and [00:33] the fight against anti-semitism. [00:34] Washington is the founder of the [00:36] Institute for Black Solidarity with [00:38] Israel, which [music] works to build [00:40] relationships between black Americans [00:42] and Jewish communities. He focuses on [00:45] anti-semitism [music] [00:46] in the world today and how to fight it. [00:52] Well, Pastor Washington is the author of [00:54] the book Zionism and the Black Church. [00:56] He joins us now by Zoom. Pastor, [00:58] welcome. It's a It's a real honor to [01:00] have you with us. [01:02] >> Thank you, Gordon. Honor to be here with [01:03] you today. [01:04] >> Uh let's talk about your subtitle, Why [01:06] Standing with Israel will be a defining [01:09] issue for Christians of color in the [01:12] 21st century. Why is this so important? [01:16] >> It is a pivotal moment uh for many [01:18] different reasons, Gordon. We see what's [01:20] going on in our nation right now. As a [01:21] matter of fact, when I first wrote the [01:22] book, it was 2013. This is the second [01:24] edition that's come out a few years ago [01:26] and everything that's happened unfolded [01:28] has even just emphasized it even more. [01:31] Anti-semitism is on the rise. It's at [01:32] the highest levels that we probably seen [01:34] since the Second World War. Uh we're [01:36] seeing it on the left side of the aisle, [01:37] the right side of the aisle. We see it [01:39] growing. It it's in our academia and all [01:41] of those things. Uh and when it comes to [01:44] support for Israel and combating [01:45] anti-semitism, no one has been more of [01:47] an ally than the Christian community. [01:49] And when it comes to the Jewish [01:51] community, there are deep deep ties [01:52] between the black and Jewish communities [01:54] that go back in the United States back [01:56] to the turn of the century, the 20th [01:57] century. Uh whether it's Booker T. [01:59] Washington, Julius Rosenwald, or Dr. [02:01] King and Joshua Hesshel during the civil [02:02] rights movement. Those communities have [02:05] consistently found each other in moments [02:07] of peril and difficulty and have forged [02:09] very positive path forward over these uh [02:13] over a century. U and so we believe that [02:16] now where anti-semitism is growing like [02:18] it is Israel's and the Jewish people's [02:20] allies which have been so uniquely uh [02:23] placed within the black community for [02:24] all the reasons that are there and even [02:26] more uh there needs to be a voice. there [02:28] needs to be the voices, the black [02:29] leaders that are speaking out against [02:31] the anti-semitism that leads to all of [02:33] the kinds of of calamities in our [02:35] nation. Uh, and again, we're seeing the [02:37] eroding of what is a Judeo-Christian [02:40] foundation in our nation. A lot of that [02:42] has to do with hatred for Israel and the [02:43] Jewish people. [02:44] um explain the the sort of new alliance [02:48] and and I I find it incredible that you [02:50] would have an alliance be-c between [02:53] progressives within the Democrat party [02:56] uh Black Lives Matter uh and then uh [03:00] radical Islam and and supporting the [03:03] Palestinian cause. I I'm having trouble [03:06] wrapping my head around it because if [03:09] radical Islam takes over Palestine, [03:12] takes over Israel, wipes Israel off the [03:14] map, we're definitely going to be the [03:16] next target. So explain the connection [03:19] because I'm not getting it. [03:21] >> Well, there's a reason why you're not [03:22] getting it, Gordon, because it has never [03:23] been organic. It has always been [03:25] something artificial. the the the the [03:28] free Palestine as we call the free [03:30] Palestine movement or as you said the [03:31] the radical Islamic Palestinian movement [03:34] which back in the 1960s ironically as we [03:37] talk about Dr. King Around the 1960s is [03:39] when the PLO, the Palestine Liberation [03:41] Organization, then at by 1968 led by uh [03:45] Yaser Arafat 69, led by Yasar Arafat, [03:48] they intentionally reached out to the [03:50] black community for the very reason that [03:52] you are underscoring, right? They wanted [03:55] to destroy Israel, but they couldn't say [03:57] it like that overtly. So, what they said [03:59] is they wanted a quote free Palestine, [04:01] right? They wanted liberation. They [04:03] wanted to liberate Palestine. And of [04:04] course they want to liberate Palestine [04:05] quote unquote from the river to the sea, [04:07] from the Jordan River to the [04:08] Mediterranean Sea, as you said, which is [04:10] to wipe Israel off the map. So they saw [04:13] as a a great boon for them a some sort [04:16] of connection to the black community in [04:19] terms of its historic struggle for [04:21] justice through slavery, Jim Crow, the [04:24] civil rights movement. So what Yaser [04:26] Arafat and the PLO which was largely [04:28] formed by the KGB. I write about all [04:30] this in my book, their focus was to try [04:32] to use the black community in a way to [04:36] sell their movement, their free [04:38] Palestine movement as a civil rights [04:41] movement. That was the goal. It was [04:43] marginal then. And again, it's ironic. [04:45] Dr. King was assassinated in ' 68. Yasa [04:47] Arafat takes the reigns of the PLO in ' [04:49] 69. And he doubles down. He focuses in [04:52] on black civil rights leaders and other [04:54] leaders to try to hide his movement as [04:58] something that was justified when it [05:00] never was. That's why when you see that [05:01] connection, it's been there for a while, [05:03] but it's number one always been marginal [05:05] in the black community. Number two, it [05:07] was never or an or an organic an organic [05:09] move out of the black community. It was [05:11] something that was coming from outside [05:13] to manipulate the black community. Well, [05:15] let's talk about what was happening [05:16] historically inside the civil rights [05:19] movement and and what I consider a great [05:23] um spirit of cooperation between the [05:25] Jewish community, the black community [05:27] leading to some pretty incredible change [05:30] uh in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s. Uh is [05:34] that is that now forgotten? uh where [05:38] where where are the uh black voices [05:40] rising up now to say this discrimination [05:43] against the Jewish community right here [05:45] in the United States can't stand? [05:48] >> Sadly, Gordon, it has been largely [05:50] forgotten and at the same time it is [05:52] being readressed. We are, our [05:54] organization, both the Institute for [05:56] Black Solidarity with Israel and the [05:57] Black Christian Leadership Council on [05:59] Israel Relations are a part of and are [06:02] seeing what we call a rekindling a a [06:04] readressing of that historic alliance, [06:06] not for the purpose of nostalgia, but [06:08] for the purpose of actually addressing [06:10] what's happening right now. So that yes, [06:12] it was largely forgotten like we know in [06:15] our education system here in the United [06:16] States, lots of things have been [06:18] forgotten as you know Gordon, even the [06:19] founding of our nation, right? what it [06:21] was actually found the principles that [06:22] actually founded us in terms of a [06:23] liberal in a constitutional republic. [06:25] Right? So what you have happening now is [06:29] an addressing of that by black and [06:31] Jewish leaders, rabbis, pastors, civil [06:34] leaders, education leaders, more and [06:35] more that are coming together, different [06:37] convenings that are happening, different [06:38] parts of the country to address what is [06:41] this what what needs to be addressed in [06:42] terms of historical record, but also [06:44] addressing it in the emergency of what [06:46] we are seeing in the rise of hatred for [06:48] Israel and the Jewish people. So no, it [06:50] absolutely is happening. I also have to [06:52] say that Dr. King was often and rightly [06:55] so underscored as the one of the icons [06:57] of the civil right civil rights movement [06:59] just as Joshua Hesshel on the Jewish [07:01] side of that. But they were speaking for [07:03] a much broader uh constituency. In other [07:06] words, Dr. King's fight against [07:08] anti-semitism and for Israel's right to [07:10] exist and defend itself was only being [07:13] an echo of what was the vast majority of [07:16] the civil rights communities. As a [07:18] matter of fact, after he was [07:18] assassinated several years later, BASIC [07:21] was founded by some of his colleagues. [07:23] BASIC is an acronym for black Americans [07:25] to support Israel committee and the [07:27] members of that organization were people [07:29] like Kretta Scott King, uh Dr. King [07:31] senior, do Dr. King's father, uh, Roy [07:34] Keanella from the Dodgers, I mean, from [07:36] the who's who of the, the black [07:37] community, virtually anybody you could [07:38] think of joined this black pro-Israel [07:41] organization to voice their opinion and [07:43] voice their their their solidarity with [07:46] Israel and for peace in the region as [07:47] well as coming against anti-semitism. [07:49] >> Well, let's talk specifically about what [07:51] you're doing, and you're doing it next [07:52] month. I well, November. Uh, so we're [07:55] we're what, 40 days away from it. Um, [07:58] you you have a scheduled trip to the [08:00] Holy Land. Uh you're calling it the [08:02] unfinished business tour. Um what is [08:05] that? How can people participate? [08:08] >> Well, the unfinished business holy land [08:09] pilgrimage is actually a underscoring of [08:13] once again history. As you said, in [08:14] 1967, November of 1967, Dr. King was [08:18] leading what we now know is about 4,000 [08:20] black Americans to the Holy Land. Uh [08:23] this was uh actually confirmed for us [08:24] again in terms of the number by uh [08:26] Andrew Young uh one of his young uh uh [08:28] uh leaders at the time who went on to [08:30] become the UN ambassador to Israel uh UN [08:33] ambassador here in United States and [08:34] also the mayor of Atlanta. We talked [08:36] about what was actually going on at the [08:38] time Dr. King and there was a great deal [08:40] of excitement happening. We know this is [08:42] fact because Dr. King and former Israeli [08:44] prime minister at that time David [08:45] Benorian were as well as the current [08:48] prime minister at that time Leviesko [08:50] were writing letters back and forth to [08:51] each other. They're excited about what [08:52] was going on, what was happening. Of [08:54] course, June 1967 was what we now call [08:57] the six- day war. Uh, Israel wins that [08:59] war against five different Arab armies, [09:01] Egypt, Jordan, uh, Iraq, Syria, and [09:04] Lebanon. Uh, but there's a lot of [09:05] political fallout. So, Dr. King decides [09:08] that, okay, now may not be a good time. [09:10] Let's push the tour back to the next to [09:12] next year. Of course, he was [09:14] assassinated that next year, April the [09:16] 4th, 1968. And so, he was never able to [09:18] lead that tour. It kind of just [09:21] dissipated. Never nothing ever happened [09:22] of it. And to this day, we call it, my [09:24] my colleagues from the council, as we [09:26] call it, calls it the unfinished [09:28] business Holy Land pilgrimage. We are [09:30] now taking some 500 black American and [09:33] African pastors and leaders to the Holy [09:35] Land, November the 4th through the 11th. [09:38] Uh we did a registration, Gordon. Uh [09:40] this is one of the first uh types of uh [09:43] talking about it on on any type of media [09:45] this and we did one other uh program [09:47] about a week ago or so, but there's been [09:49] no other formal advertisement. But [09:52] Gordon, we've had almost a thousand [09:54] registrants. We only take 500, but [09:56] almost a thousand people have [09:57] registered. This is word of mouth, some [09:59] emails, some social media posts, and [10:01] it's continuing to grow. By God's grace, [10:03] we hope to take thousands next year on [10:06] what will be the 60th anniversary of Dr. [10:08] King's plan tour. So if you don't make [10:10] it on this particular trip, your [10:12] application is still in for next year. [10:14] >> It is in for next year. As a matter of [10:16] fact, we have both that waiting list and [10:18] those who specifically asked to be [10:20] contacted for next year. So again, the [10:22] so we already have hundreds of names for [10:24] the waiting list on next year. [10:26] >> All right. Well, Pastor Washington's [10:28] book, it's called Zionism in the Black [10:30] Church. The second edition is now [10:32] available wherever books are sold. If [10:34] you want to go on this tour, it's real [10:36] simple. There's a website, but it's a [10:38] complicated one. bcir. [10:43] So I'll repeat it. bcirr.org. [10:48] So it's not a.com, it's r for more [10:51] information how you can sign up for the [10:53] unfinished business tour to the holy [10:56] land. And again, that's bclir.org. [11:01] Sign up and and and get informed. It's [11:03] going to be a wonderful tour. Uh, Pastor [11:06] Washington, thank you so much for being [11:08] with us and thank you for this wonderful [11:09] book and thank you for all you're doing [11:11] for Israel. [11:12] >> Thank you so much, Gordon. We appreciate [11:14] it. All right.
